How To Love A Werewolf
by amerikanka
Summary: Fleur Delacour gets a visitor in need of some advice and reassurance after the first Battle of Hogwarts.


So accents aren't really my strong point, so I'm sorry about that, but I did my best. Enjoy!

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Fleur Delacour stared at her fourth glass of wine intently, like it held secrets she couldn't imagine. Secrets she desperately wanted and needed. Secrets that would tell her how to fix something that was broken.

Bill was still in the hospital. He was getting better slowly – werewolf bites took too long to heal for her liking, she wanted him home _now_ – but he would be scarred beyond belief when the bandages did eventually come off. She didn't care about that, despite what that crazy woman Bill called his mother thought. Oh sure, they'd had a bonding moment in the Hogwarts Infirmary, but Fleur still didn't feel entirely welcome around Mrs. Weasley.

She knew it was hard to watch your eldest get married. Fleur's father had had enough of a struggle letting her go even before the attack, to say nothing of the fact that he was now going to give his daughter away to a person who wasn't entirely human any more. She had overheard a conversation between her father and her mother a few nights before where they had both agreed that though they trusted her to make her own decisions, this one was probably the wrong one.

Fleur had tried not to let it affect her, but it did. If her parents, the ones who had raised her to think like she did, didn't feel that this was the right choice, then was it? She loved Bill Weasley. She loved everything about him – his long red hair, his easygoing grin, his bright blue eyes that always looked at her with the utmost love and affection, even that ridiculous earring.

She just didn't know. She didn't know if she was making the right choice. She'd been a little scared of marriage before the attack anyway, and though she loved Bill with all her heart... no. She stopped herself in the middle of that thought. She loved him with everything she had, and that was enough. She had seen the look on Mrs. Weasley's face after Fleur had yelled that she was pretty enough for the both of them and it had been a great one, one that only proved her more right. Fleur loved Bill, and that was it.

A knock on her door startled her out of her reverie. Cautiously, she opened the small magical peephole that allowed her to see the face of her visitor without them noticing she was looking. Remus Lupin stood on her doorstep, glancing nervously at her door every few seconds. "What 'appened ze last time I saw you?" Fleur asked through the door.

Remus jumped slightly at the sound of her voice, then grinned wryly. "Many things, including you being the first person I've ever seen to shock Molly Weasley into silence."

Fleur couldn't help the smile spreading across her face as she opened the door. "I am rather proud of zat. Please, come een." She took his traveling cloak and ushered him over to the table, insisting on fixing him tea.

Rather drunk, it was more of a challenge than usual to keep her long silvery-blond hair from catching on fire as she heated water. She muffled her swearing as much as she could, not wanting to make a bad impression on her guest.

"I can also offer you wine," she said as she placed a teacup in front of him.

"No, thank you," Remus declined with a smile. He sipped at his tea as she took a seat across from him after stowing her wineglass in the kitchen. They were silent for a few moments, Fleur wondering why Remus was here but too polite to flat out ask. Then he set down his teacup and sighed, looking at her with weary eyes. "How do you do it?"

"Pardon?" She asked.

"I mean, how do you love a werewolf?" Remus asked in a rush. He had clearly been bottling up those words for a while, and Fleur decided not to point out that Bill wasn't a full werewolf. She hadn't thought about whether or not it would make a difference if he was, but her gut instinct was that it wouldn't.

"I love 'im," she said simply.

"But – "

"And zat ees enough," she spoke firmly over the beginnings of his protestations. "I fell in love with 'im before 'e was attacked. Just because 'e now prefers 'is meat bloody and likes to stare at ze moon sometimes does not mean I will stop loving 'im."

"But it would be safer, it would be smarter. You could have anyone." It was clear at this point that Remus was not really talking about Fleur anymore, but she wasn't going to bring that to his attention or make a fuss about it either.

"I do not want anyone. I want 'im, and 'im alone. Also Remus, may I tell you a secret?" She reached forward and took his hand in hers, smiling at him gently. "Women do not want what makes them safe or what ees smart. We want to 'ave what we love."

"I thought I could do it," he whispered, and in that instant Fleur realized that he really wasn't all that much older than her. She had grown used to seeing him at Order meetings as someone who was old enough to be her father and while that was still true, he clearly was just as confused as any one else when it came to love. It made her smile grow fonder, and she kept looking at him with tenderness as he spoke. "I thought I could be selfish enough to let her throw her life away for me. But then I stop letting myself dream and wake up and realize that she's beautiful and young, and she would be better off with anyone besides me."

"Anyone? No," Fleur said sharply, her kind smile slipping off into a frown. Remus looked startled at her suddenly changed tone of voice. "Would she be better off with Fenrir Greyback, who would maul 'er with a smile on 'is face? With Rabastan Lestrange or any of 'is friends? With Peter Pettigrew, who would betray 'er een an instant for a pat on ze 'ead? Certainement pas!" She corrected her French in an instant. "Certainly not!"

"That's not what I meant – " Remus started.

"I do not care what you t'ought you meant. You said anyone, zerefore part of you zinks anyone." She quieted her voice a little. "But zat ees eet again. She does not want anyone. She wants you, Remus, and only you." She reached out to him, cupping his chin in her free hand, and made him look her in the eyes. "Do not question. Be grateful and treasure 'er."

"Where did you learn all these secrets about love?" Remus asked, his warm hazel eyes meeting hers with a strange kind of respect mixed with confusion in them.

Fleur was quiet for a while, though Remus was clearly waiting for an answer. "I am part-Veela," she said eventually, "and so I 'ave 'ad men falling over me my whole life. Zere 'ave been only a few who 'ave not. For a while I eencouraged men and boys to lust after me. I liked ze feeling it gave me, of being ze best and most beautiful. But zen I started to look at my maman and my papa. Sometimes I do not even zink my papa sees 'ow beautiful my maman ees, but zey are more een love zan anyone I know." She smiled. "I realized zat eef I wanted someone to love me like my maman and papa love each other, I needed to, as Charlie said to me once, take my head out of my ass."

That got a laugh out of Remus and Fleur poured them both more tea in the interlude. "Bill said I was like a sphinx one time. Zat I was such a mystery zat 'e knew 'e could not solve eet by 'imself. Zat 'e felt intimidated sometimes, and zat while 'e was not going to give up on me, 'e could use a 'int. So I asked my papa 'ow 'e and maman kept zeir love alive, and 'ow 'e won 'er over. 'E told me zat 'e didn't tell my maman she was beautiful, because she already knew zat. Instead, 'e shows 'er she ees perfect and smart and wonderful. And zen I realized zat Bill 'ad never lavished praises of my beauty onto me, but eenstead 'ad spoken to me about what 'e found amazing about me. We 'ad spoken often about ze Triwizard Tournament, about my goal to work for Gringotts as a cursebreaker eventually, and about many other zings, but never zat I was beautful." She had such an elated smile on her face that Remus could tell she found that fact wonderful.

"And zat was what I needed. Bill ees more zan just what I want. 'E ees what I _need_," Fleur continued, her face growing more animated as she explained. "When I saw 'im laying een ze 'ospital, my first t'ought was to take care of 'im because I need 'im een my life, not that 'e was no longer as 'andsome as 'e was. Zat did not even matter, and zat is 'ow I know I 'ave changed for ze better. I cannot imagine being parted from 'im now, and I would destroy anyone who tried to seperate us. Ze fact zat 'e 'as changed does not matter because I love 'im, and zat ees eet. Zere ees no secret."

Remus looked at her with a somewhat critical eye. "You're a lot more open when there aren't a bunch of people."

Fleur sighed. "I grew up een a small, very private family. 'Aving so many people around ees eentimidating. I feel like I must eempress people, especially my future family, and zat usually means I let my Veela side show t'rough more. I am working on eet."

Remus sighed and finished off his tea before standing up. "I should get home. Thank you for the tea and wisdom."

Fleur laughed, a throaty sound that warmed Remus. Veela magic at work no doubt, but he didn't mind because it did make him feel better. "Do you mind eef I walk with you to ze corner? I was planning on going to ze 'ospital when you showed up." She was still shaky from all the wine she'd had when she stood, but she managed to keep her feet. Remus didn't appear to notice if she stumbled, and she couldn't tell if he was being kind and ignoring it or if she just felt shakier than she was. Either way, she was grateful. Just because they had had a good talk about love didn't mean that she should feel free to go stumbling around like a drunken buffoon in front him.

"Of course," Remus acquiesced, waiting for her to don her cloak and scarf.

"Bill gave me zis last year," she said, gesturing at her scarf fondly. "'E will not tell me what enchantments 'e placed on eet, but I know zere ees something. Eet always smells like sunshine and violets, even when eet ees soaking wet. 'E 'as never even asked, but somehow 'e knows zose are my favorite scents. 'E must 'ave just guessed." She paused, and then let the remnants of wine in her system keep talking. "Eef you were to guess, would you guess zat Nymphadora loves you?"

They paused at the corner and she waited for Remus to answer. "Yes," he said. "And that scares me."

"Eef you were not scared to be een love I would slap you," she said decisively. "Eet ees terrifying. But you must put zat aside, because you must trust zat ze other person knows what zey want. Trust 'er. Eef she 'asn't given up on you yet, you mean more to 'er zan you could possibly imagine. And eff you never try, zen you'll never know just how much you are worth to 'er."

She looked him directly in the eyes, her own blue ones blazing. "Go 'ome and do not let 'er love, or yours for 'er, go to waste." Fleur kissed him once on each cheek and then Disapparated into the night, leaving Remus standing there with a lot to think about.


End file.
